Digitalization of the archival sources "Ältere Verlassenschaftsakten Mannheim" with focus on the period 1790 to 1860

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“Verlassenschaftsakten“ (inheritance files) are very special and a great treasure for historical research. But, unfortunately, this has been a matter of opinion for a very long time. Court records of the early modern period were considered to be of only local importance and therefore not interesting for general historical research. In addition to this, the huge mass of these files made research extremely difficult. Only a new approach with more focus on everyday culture as well as the possibility of making metadata available on the internet have increased the value of these records. Today the “Verlassenschaftsakten“ are seen as what they really are: a mirror of the society and they provide real insights into the economic, social, religious and personal affairs of the people concerned. The so-called “Ältere Mannheimer Verlassenschaftsakten“ are an outstanding example of this type of records. They include about 10,000 entities and offer a huge amount of possibilities for historical research. The largest part of these files covers the years 1790 to 1860, a key period in the history of the city of Mannheim. In the course of these years Mannheim changed from a city with an elaborate courtly life and administration to a city with a growing economy and an increasing importance of the bourgeoisie.An index of these records already exists and is available on the internet. That´s why our project will focus on the digitalization of the files and their publication on the Archivportal D and the DDB.